Out of the Ashes/Chapter 1
Chapter 1 Quake steadily walked forward, ignoring the intense wind blowing in his face. His cloak, however, was far lighter and thus was being buffeted around by the wind. Fortunately, he had straps in place which kept it from blowing off or blowing around too much. Quake had few possessions, and he wasn't about to lose any of them to the blasted wind. Equally fortunate, the town Quake was making for was disrupting the air flow, reducing the amount blowing at him. The town was, well, like almost any other town in the Kerris Island Cluster; multiple deteriorating buildings, with most of the outer buildings in ruin. This town was worse then average. Obviously a common hiding place for thieves. The Kerris island cluster was known as the "Crime Capital" of the world. Most of the innocent had little, and the criminals made sure it stayed that way. And Quake was going to make sure criminals bothered him only once, and make sure that stayed that way. Annoyingly, trouble was inevitable. Thieves love to pick on newcomers, to show true Kerris island hospitality. As Quake was passing the first building, trouble appeared. He turned right, going between the first and second building. He heard running, and quickened his pace. too, too late, though. The trouble turned the corner in the form of a thief with a dagger and a disk launcher, which was loaded with a metal, razor-edged disk. Quake stopped and tensed, his hands dropping to his side. From his hand's position, he could quickly grab his knife or swords. This was a subtle hint that Quake was, at the very least, capable of fighting. A hint the thief did not pick up. "Give me that bag on your back, and you wont be hurt." The thief said, pointing his disk launcher at Quake. Quake spent a few seconds to examine his opponent before speaking. "Get the Karzahnii out of my sight, you pathetic being." Quake replied, danger in his voice. The thief frowned. Most people would willingly choose to lose something instead of being horribly harmed. But this hooded stranger seemed to think otherwise. It was strangely unnerving. "I'll give you one last chance." He said, aiming the launcher. Quake's body only twitched in response. Inwardly, though, Quake's ears strained to hear the sound he knew was coming over the sound of some crazy person singing in the background. "click." Two things happened right after that sound. First, the disk launched off toward Quake. Second, Quake quickly sidestepped. This combination caused the disk to sail past Quake and the thief to yell an obscenity. The thief dropped his launcher and charged forward, dagger in hand. Quake flashed a cold smile beneath his cloak as he slowly advanced forward. Once the thief was in range, he did an inward swipe. Quake barely leaped out of the way of the swipe, and the second outward swing. It was at this moment that Quake's hand shot out, grabbing the thieves' knife hand. He followed this up by twisting it behind his back. The thief grunted in pain and tried, in vain, to free himself. Quake plucked the thieves' dagger from his hand and nonchalantly smashed the pommel on the thief's head, letting his hand go in the process. He made another follow up move to end the fight, making a spinning kick to the back of the thieves' head. This resulted in the thief splatting face first into he ground, sliding forward a few feet, and falling into unconsciousness. It was a short and, for Quake, painless fight. Just the way he preferred it. Quake decided it was best to keep the thief out of business, and grabbed the dagger. It was a rusty, flimsy blade, and Quake easily snapped it in two. He then took the launcher and, grabbing the top left and right sides, he yanked it in half, tearing straight through the middle. Discarding the pieces, Quake walked off, satisfied with his work and eager to get a place in a hotel, and get some sleep. Upon reaching the interior of the town, Quake decided his previous assessment of the town was inaccurate. It looked particularly run down from outside, but at the center of the town, many buildings were restored to a surprisingly good state. The only hotel in the town wasn't just restored. It appeared to be a completely new building put over the ruins of an older one. The accommodations were not lacking either, and for once Quake found himself happy to pay for a hotel room. Miracles do happen. He thought. Despite it being late, he chose to stay up and grab some food and drink. He didn't have plans or anywhere to be, so why not stay up late and check all the other guests of the establishment? Quake chose the darkest corner and sat down, relaxedly leaning back. His discerning eyes scanned over the crowd, taking in every detail and making quick conjectures about each person. A good portion of them appeared to be workers from other places around the town, here purely for the food. The remainder were likely travelers, like Quake. Four travelers in particular caught Quake's attention; they were all noisome individuals who, in Quake's eyes, spelled trouble. The scratched out markings on their left shoulder's helped to confirm that thought. Members of richer criminal organizations tended to have markings to identify them as such to others in the criminal underworld. After observing all the guests of the facility and finishing his meal, Quake decided it would be best to finally retire. He found his bed to be extremely comfortable in comparison to his accommodations for the past week, and in a short time fell asleep, his bag on his chest and his knife within arms reach. Category:Stories